Dell Inspiron Duo and Solid State Drives - Charles Darwin and the Survival of the Fittest

Give a man a pipe he can smoke

Give a man a book he can read

And his home is bright with a calm delight

Though the room be poor indeed

James Thomson, Sunday up the River

In any war, even a “secret” war being fought over a gadget that is yet to prove itself as having significant demand to warrant your attention, it always follows the pattern of Survival of the Fittest, as postulated by the famed Biologist and Naturalist, Sir Charles Darwin in his famed Theory of Evolution, much derided by Evangelical Christians and Seventh Day Adventists as being based on non-Biblical theories.

Yet here we have a Tablet War being played out before our very eyes that is effectively an example to a keen Biology student of the much derided Theory of Evolution, as Tablet make Laptops and Netbook obsolete as stated in the article “Tablets threaten to make Netbooks obsolete”, published Wednesday September 8, 2010 2:20 pm ET by Tony Bradley, Cold Business Center, Yahoo! News.

For those aware of the concept of Biodiversity will realize that before the different species [tablets] start living symbiotically, first a couple of them will have to go the way of the Dodo, being killed off by more aggressive predators [Apple].

A synergy is then achieved that establishes equilibrium among all species competing, in this case, for the scarce purchasing power of consumers in a Recession, who are wary of gimmickry and desire high quality performance Tech Gadgets for their hard earned dollar.

I say “secret” for although many people have heard of tablets, specifically the hype of the White Unicorn, namely the Apple iPad as stated in the article “Tablets, 3-D TV, 4G wireless among most hyped technologies of 2010, analysts say”, published Friday October 15,2010 4:19 pm ET By Ben Patterson, Yahoo! News.

The Apple iPad’s competitors that have emerged thus far have remained largely under the radar of the Media, the general populace concerned more with the state of the Economy and soldiering on, day after day, while the first stage of competition of animals and plants in this Brave New World are gearing up for a Christmas launch, John Public muses philosophically.

This is something I experienced firsthand while working for Telecom Provider CLARO as a RF Technician (2008-2009) and interacting with Customers or Outsiders as many within the Telecoms and Technology Industry are wont to call Customers, on the road; most were clueless as to what was going on as the Data Wars rage on in Jamaica with discussions rife among the combatants on local Jamaican forum TechJamaica and being chronicled by reporters [blogger] in the trenches such as on my blog as well as Administrator Kirk’s Geezam blog.

While the excitement is at fever pitch in Tech circles, the Outsiders [Customers] do not care, even if it was published in the newspapers, often being too tired to watch news on television. It is also the reason why I fear Management and the associated financial perks, preferring a life of poverty; these Tech Companies and Telecom Providers are not paying you for your expertise and advice.

They are merely paying employees in Management “hush money” to keep information from Customers and hold back innovation, a grand deception to sacrifice Customers at the altar of money in exchange for outdated Developed World Throwaways. Money truly, is the root of all evil, as all employees-turned-blogger know.

I would take up Management if only the Telecom Provider’s showed some innovative spark in their thinking e.g. Solar Powered Generators, Rolling Municipal Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n), Mi-Fi Hot Spots, Android smart phones, etc, you know, that kind of innovation for a Jamaican company.

Oh well…….Technician that I am, I shall explain what I know Customers desire and I would provide IF I were a Manager of a Tech company using the Dell Inspiron Duo as a case in point for the equation SSD’s = Lower operating temperatures + better performance at lower processor speeds.

Computer maker Dell of PC and advertisement fame (“Dude, you getting a Dell?”), has debut the back-flipping Dell Inspiron Duo Tablet, effectively a cross between a Netbook and a Tablet, obvious by its flipping action and its flipping reasonable price of US$549 as stated in the article “Dell Duo tablet set at US$549”, published November 18, 2010 10:51 AM PST by Brooke Crothers, CNET News - Nanotech - The Circuits Blog and confirmed in the article “Dell does backflips over new Inspiron Duo Tablet”, published Thursday November 18 2010 ZDNET, with little media fanfare.

After all, (and I am not cursing!), it is a flipping Netbook, perfect for those people who like tablets but are still on training wheels when it come to the touch interface, and still like the comfort of touching keys as sampled from the basic outlook as stated in the article “We get out hands on the Dell Inspiron Duo”, published November 18, 2010 1:25 PM PST by Dan Ackerman, CNET News - Crave.

For the techies, check the specs: Netbook-Tablet Hybrid with a 10” screen running a Custom Windows 7 OS interface on a Dual Atom N550 Intel processor with a 1366-by-768 display, 2GB of RAM, and a 320GB hard disk drive. It somewhat reminds me of those laptops that have screens that flip around, except this one flips horizontally, not vertically.

Innovative design and a optional US$100 JBL Docking cradle that turns this bad boy into a stereo system is the main selling point of this tablet just like the HP Slate 500 as stated in the article  “Meet the HP Slate 500”, published October 21, 2010 3:05 PM PDT by Erica Ogg, CNET News - Circuit Breaker.

HP is now experiencing the beginnings of a phenomenal runaway success approaching the Christmas of 2010 as suggested in the article “Hewlett-Packard runs out of Slates”, published November 15, 2010 10:09 AM PST by Lance Whitney, CNET News!

So wherein lays the reason for my rant?

Despite the price, people wanted to see their Technology companies be innovative and make something worth buying that (hopefully) has more than ten (10) hours of battery life on full video playback and does not have to be plugged in all the time.

Also, they wished to see SSD (Solid State Drives) being used, which the redesigned 11.6” and 13” US$999 Apple MacBook Air as stated in the article Apple - MacBook Air - Technical specifications of the 11-inch, viewed on Wednesday October 27 2010, Apple has made so popular with its Instant-On.

People desire this and as a manager, I would willing supply.

SSD’s = Lower operating temperatures + better performance at lower processor speeds, making traditional mechanical Hard drives and even the so called Hybrid Hard Drives as stated in the article “Hybrid hard-disk market set to take off”, published October 25, 2010 7:41 PM PDT by Brooke Crothers, CNET News Nanotech - The Circuits Blog appear to be an attempt to eke out more money out of a technology that should have long gone the way of the Dodo.

That Intel was forced to drop the price of their 120 GB SSD’s now being sold to consumers at a still expensive but reasonable price of US$249 as stated in article “Time for an SSD? Intel Drops 120GB to US$249”, published November 13, 2010 12:58 PM PST by Brooke Crothers, CNET News- Nanotech - The Circuits Blog

This may be due to the effect of the Apple MacBook Air, which uses SSD’s as stated in my article on Administrator Kirk’s Geezam blog entitled “MacBook Air and FLASH-based Harddrives - The Quest for Instant On”.

The Apple MacBook Air, which originally debut in 2008 with a 64GB SSD is finally in its second iteration, coming down from a heavenly price of US$3000 only the Gods could afford to a earthly price of US$999 us mere Mortals can afford when purchased directly from an Apple Store with a option for a 64GB or 128GB SSD.

It may also be due to competition from FLASH Drive makers such as Sandisk, now sensing the demand for SSD’s coming into the market, mostly now in smart phones as stated in the article “Smartphones moving to fancier flash drives”, published August 19, 2009 3:15 PM PDT by Brooke Crothers, CNET News, Nanotech - The Circuits Blog.

Sandisk has decided to get their feet wet by making SSD’s as stated in the article “SanDisk offers super-tiny flash drives”, published August 18, 2010 2:03 PM PDT by Stephen Shankland, CNET News - Deep Tech.

Hopefully, companies, like Texas based Dell, now with their feet so firmly dipped into the smart phone waters with the Dell Aero as stated in the article “Dell launches $100 smart phone in US on AT&T”, published Tuesday August 24, 2010 5:26 pm ET, Yahoo! News.

This has been confirmed in the article “Dell launches first U.S. smart phone, the Android-powered Aero”, published August 24, 2010, 11:04am PDT by Sam Diaz, ZDNET

They are even giving their employees a complementary smart phone as stated in the article “Dell replacing employee Blackberry's with its own phone”, published November 5, 2010 9:48 AM PDT by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Wireless, will also adopt the use of SSD’s.

Future iterations of this their Netbook-Tablet Hybrid, a completely different take from the thus far successful Dell Streak heading to a doctor’s office near you as stated in the article “Dell goes after doctors with Streak tablet”, published September 15, 2010 9:47 AM PDT by Don Reisinger, CNET News - The Digital Home would be a welcome relief for those more comfortable with Windows 7 OS and yet wanting to look “progressive” with an Apple-esque touch interface.

After all, it’s what Customer’s desire, if the popularity of the Apple MacBook Air is anything to go by; “fuel their desire, and the hordes will come” seems to be the message of the article “Will HP, Dell, Sony answer the 11-inch MacBook Air?”, published October 30, 2010 2:04 PM PDT by Brooke Crothers, CNET News - Nanotech - The Circuits Blog.

Thus do not be surprised if other Laptop and Netbook makers, in a bid to survive cannibalization from the White Unicorn that is the Apple iPad.

The Apple iPad is now laying claim to nearly 95% of the tablet empire as per the calculations of analyst Strategy Analytics as stated in the article “Apple has 95 percent of tablet market: Strategy Analytics”, published Tuesday November 2 2010, 7:59 am ET, Reuters, Yahoo! News, will strike back with smart books (netbooks with SSD’s).

This decision may also be due in part to fresh reports that the Apple may have inadvertently created its own Kryptonite for the Apple iPad in the form of the Apple Mac Book Air.

This as per the speculation based on an anecdotal research note by analyst Shook Kumar of the firm Rodman & Crenshaw based on arguments presented in the article “Air meets iPad”, published November 13, 2010 5:07 PM PST by Brooke Brothers, CNET News - Nanotech - The Circuits Bog.

Thus the Tablet-Netbook Hybrid in the form of the Dell Inspiring Duo and the Indianapolis 500 inspired HP Slate 500, both of which are Windows 7 OS based tablets, may be the ultimate winners, achieving biodiversity as the concept of the Survival of the Fittest by Sir Charles Darwin demonstrated in the Tablet Wars progresses. 

Customers will then begin to realize that the equation holds true for smart books and tablets; SSD’s = Lower operating temperatures + better performance at lower processor speeds.

Even with Windows 7 OS Tablets. Chrome smart books are thus still a possibility as stated in the article “Chrome-powered Tablet and store may take on iPad”, published Wednesday August 18, 2010 2:03 pm ET by Jennifer Éclair, Newsfactor, CNET News, a debate for yet another article.